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Found this shot on the web... no idea who to credit it to. But couldn't resist as it not only shows his Order of Kutuzov but also one I didn't previously know he'd gotten... a Soviet Guards Badge.

I searched for about two hours last night and could not find another shot of him wearing these awards. Knowing how he felt about the Soviets I'd not be surprised if he promptly packed them away and never wore them or even looked at them again.

You can see what I believe is the Order of Kutuzov just to the left of the Guards Badge.

If anyone has additional pics of him wearing either or both of these please post as I'd love to see them.

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Great picture of Patton!!! I, too, am surprised because of his feelings about the soviets. But, then he did love his Orders and medals!!!

Doc

Hi Doc,

Many thanks. I've read Ladislas Ferago's Patton and several other excellent bio's and seen quite a few as well... but don't remember reading anything specific about these awards or how he felt about them. Would love to know if anyone out there happens to have any info on this. Can't quite tell from the pic if he looks pleased or unhappy... perhaps kind of between the two extremes. But again, can't find another photo showing either or both of these awards. Tons of others... but not these.

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I am interested in how he was awarded the Coast Guard's Silver Lifesaving medal!

While we may think of it today as a "Coast Guard" award, it has been historically a general lifesaving award, not in any sense restricted to the Coast Guard. As I recall, he saved some chap from drowning. There have been several LONG articles on his awards in the JOMSA over the years.

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I know what you mean about the Lifesaving medal. The lifesaving medals are Civilian awards, that are processed and awarded by the Coast Guard. I have seen a couple ceremonies where Coast Guard Admirals presented Silver and Gold medals to civilians(fishermen) for saving lives at sea.

I only know of one Coast Guard member who was awarded a Silver Lifesaving medal.

For a Coast Guard member to be eligible to receive the award, the deed must have occured while off duty.

As far as I know, the Coast Guard is now the only branch of service that allows the Lifesaving Medal or Ribbon bar to be worn on the uniform.

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Since this is my "expert" area in the hobby, I might be able to help. Patton received a Kutuzov 1st class according to his biography, though I haven't been able to track down the number for it. Interestingly, he's not listed in the Shishov and Muzalevsky listing of recipients of the 1st class though, and I also haven't been able to find his award card. I'm not saying that he didn't get it, but he just received it through non-standard means... probably through a field presentation of a front commander that wasn't properly documented (others, like General Bradley, had the proper award card and the like, which I have copies of). At the time of his receiving of the award, they were stationed on the Soviet-US lines in Czechoslovakia. Other members of his staff who received Soviet awards at the same time include the Chief of Staff, Chief of Engineers, Operations Officer, G3, G4, Supply Officer, Artillery Commander and Deputy Chief of Staff. I am certain other awards were given out, but those are the only ones I have documented that were awarded to the 3rd Army staff.

With regard to the Guards badge, the Soviets gave these badges out as "awards" to various US personnel. The personnel who recieved them considered them bona-fide personal awards, even though the badge was simply a representation of the unit status. A bit odd, that's for sure. I have yet to find a good reason why the Soviets did that, but the awardings of the Guards badge as a decoration were fairly rare and are considerably more rare than the actual bestowal of "real" awards.

As far as Patton wearing them, I had a great statement that Patton made about wearing the awards, to the effect of 'you don't have to like the people giving you awards' or something like that... when I find it, I'll post it verbatim as it's a classic Patton statement.

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I hadn't noticed before but know that I have I kind of wonder what he did for the Navy Distinguished Service Medal. Does anyone know?

Dan

He received the NDSM along with many of the other senior Army generals at the time. Basically it was because of his "support" of the Navy-run amphibious landings. Or something like that. Remember when you're in that kind of stratospheric level of general-dom, the other services tend to give you all of their awards, even if you didn't do anything specifically for them. For example, after the Gulf War in 1991, nearly all of the four star generals who were "players" recieved DSMs from all of the branches - thus, they ended up with the Army DSM, Navy DSM, USAF DSM and Coast Guard DSM. I know for the Navy that also has historically been a precident for a "joint-supporting" Chief of Naval Operations, where they receive the DSMs from every branch. Also historically the outgoing Chairman of the JCS recieves them all as well. Just one of those "friendly" cross-service gestures.

Also, the photo in the first post is credited to Ben K. Weed of "oldflagswanted". I don't know where he originally got it from though.

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Thanks, Dave. I hoped you'd pop in here. The Patton Museum has no record of the serial number on his K1?

I don't recall if I asked them or not. I think I did, but never received a response and didn't think about it again. Interestingly, the most responsive people regarding information about awards (other than the exception of the Eisenhower Library, they were GREAT) were the Canadians and Brits. Eventually I'll do an article on Soviet awards to Allies..... sometime...

I found the quote I was looking for from Patton regarding the wearing of his Soviet awards:

?When you win a ribbon at a horse show, it?s best to accept it, even if you don?t like the judge who gave it to you.?

That's from Hirshson, Stanley P. General Patton, a soldiers life. Harper Perennial, 2003

Eventually, JOMSA will publish my article about these. It's now going on 8 months since originally submitted and two months after it was promised to be published. Sometime...eventually...

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Patton received a Kutuzov 1st class according to his biography, though I haven't been able to track down the number for it. I'm not saying that he didn't get it, but he just received it through non-standard means... probably through a field presentation of a front commander that wasn't properly documented (others, like General Bradley, had the proper award card and the like, which I have copies of). At the time of his receiving of the award, they were stationed on the Soviet-US lines in Czechoslovakia.

Dave

To all:

My thinking is that Patton likely received his Kutuzov 1st Class personally from MSU Zhukov on/around Friday, 7 September 1945 in Berlin, Germany in connection with the Allied Victory Parade held there. The September parade proceeded along what is today known as "Strasse der 17. Juni." GEN Patton and MSU Zhukov were the reviewing officers. It was at this parade that the famous photo of a smiling MSU Zhukov seen standing to GEN Patton's left was taken. Patton can clearly be seen wearing his Kutuzov 1st. It was also at this parade that the Soviet JS-3 heavy tank was publicly displayed for the first time.

Unless the photo in post # 1 above pre-dates the September 1945 picture of him with Zhukov in Berlin, my guess is that's when he was gonged.

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My thinking is that Patton likely received his Kutuzov 1st Class personally from MSU Zhukov on/around Friday, 7 September 1945 in Berlin, Germany in connection with the Allied Victory Parade held there.

That's a good theory, and may be correct. However, it's a little odd though as his staff was decorated in June 1945 during the en masse awardings of Soviet awards all across the US-Soviet lines. Waiting till September would be a bit strange, but it is possible (odder things have happened).

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I'm so happy that this thread has been of interest. I for one never knew about the award of the Guards Badge... although I did know about him being given the Kutuzov. Patton has always been one of my heroes and I'm always up for learning new info about him.

Thanks so much to everyone who has participated so far. Sure hope we can learn a few more tidbits before all is said and done.